Endorsement: Shaugnessy Naughton for PA-08

At Climate Hawks Vote, we stand for science. We’re delighted to endorse scientist Shaughnessy Naughton for Pennsylvania’s Eighth District, an open seat north of Philadelphia. She’s running as a Democrat, a small business owner, and a champion of climate science.

Dr. Michael Mann, the renowned Penn State climate scientist and a member of the Climate Hawks Vote Scientific Advisory Board, says: “Shaughnessy is one of those rare politicians that not only understands science, but is indeed a scientist. She brings to the world of politics a deep appreciation and understanding of science, something that is so critical today as we are forced to confront policy-relevant matters of science like human-caused climate change and what to do about it.”

That scientific understanding runs deep in Shaughnessy’s politics. She’s been a strong voice against fracking and and equally strong advocate for science and technology education. She spent years after college as a breast cancer drug researcher and knows the value of early mammograms, and places that offer healthcare for women such as Planned Parenthood. And she’s a fighter - after a narrow loss in 2014, Shaughnessy founded the 314 PAC, the nation’s first and only political action committee supporting scientists running for office. Shaughnessy is perhaps the first candidate in the nation who’s campaigning against ExxonMobil.

The seat is a key Democratic pickup opportunity. Shaughnessy ran for the seat in 2014, narrowly losing the primary to some guy who went on to lose the race to entrenched incumbent Michael Fitzpatrick, who in turn announced his retirement in 2016. So now she’s achieved name recognition, she’s running in a substantially better year for Democrats, and she’s running for a newly open seat in a swingy district (Romney +1 in 2012, Obama +7 in 2008). She has to get through a competitive primary April 26.